Slant roof louver



F. H. LESLIE SLANT ROOlE` LOUVER Aug. 14, 1945.

Filed April 8. 1942 Patented Aug. 14, 1945 UNITED- sTATEs `*ilirllill'r OFFICE sLANT ROQFLOUVER Freeland H. Leslie, ohieage, Ill. y Applieaiien April s, 1942, serial Ne. 438,064 'solenne (nel. sis-42) 'I'his invenion relates to slant roof louvers of the type shown in applicants copending application No. 326,369. More particularly this invention relates to a slant roof louver for use on roofs having a pitch as low as one-quarter.

Applicants louvers are characterized by a peripheral flange, or plate member having an opening comprising an air inlet. Over this opening is positioned a dormer having side and front walls and a ilat roof. In the lower front Wall is an opening, generally rectangular in shape and behind this opening, that is within the louver, there is a baille having a top wall extending toward the outlet opening to form a recess or deep pocket facing the outlet opening. The air passageway between the inlet and outlet openings passesl over the baille. Applicants louvers are designed along straight lines, the major thought being to carry from the outlet opening to the inlet opening an air passageway having approximately the same configuration and the same dimensions as the outlet opening.

In prior designs, the applicant had arbitrarily disposed the lat dormer roof at an angle vof approximately 30 degrees to the peripheral flange. A louver having Va. roof making such an angle with the peripheral flange had prior to comparatively recent times always been satisfactory, vthat is to say the fiat dormer rOof always sloped downwardly when mounted on a slant roof. This was of coursetrue only because the slant roofs on private homes were ordinarily of a one-half or one-third pitch wherein the slopes of the roof with respect to the horizontal are 45 and$3629 degrees respectively. More' recently the one-quarter pitch roof has become popular. The one-quarter pitch roof is one wherein the height of the peak above the eaves is one-quarter of the width spanned by the roof and in a one-quarter pitch roof the angle of the roof to the horizontal is 26.6 degrees.

In order to design a louver wherein the dormer roof of the louver is disposed-at an angle of less than 26.6 degrees with the peripheral flange in accordance with principles heretofore practiced by the applicant, it would have been necessary to greatly lengthen the dormer roof and resultantly the peripheral flange to get the requisite low slope. This was objectionable not only because such construction increased the cost of the louver but alsov because the increased size rendered the louver more conspicuous when mounted on a roof.

The broad object of this invention is to design a slant'roof louver having over all dimensions,

an air passageway, and outlet and inlet openings comparable to the louver shown in the copending application 326, 369 while nevertheless j lowering the peak of the roof suflciently so that `eral flange.

The -feature of this invention which accomplished this object is the positioning of the top of the interior baille at a point closer to the peripheralv flange than the top of the outlet opening but at a point above a plane passed through the top of the outlet opening parallel to the dormer roof. Previously in designing slant roof louvers, it was thought necessary to have the top of the baille more distant from the peripheral ilange than the top of the outlet opening. Such designing does not take into consideration thedisposition of the louver on the roof. one of4 opplicants slant roof louvers is placed on a roof,v the outlet opening is lower on the roof than is the baille due to the slope of `'the roof. According to the present invention; the top of the baille is positioned ata point slightly above a horizontal plane passed through the top of the outlet opening when the louver is mount`` ed on a roof having such a slope that the flat dormer roof of the louver will slope outwardly and downwardly. The'top of the interior baille therefore bears a relationship not only tothe top of the outlet opening but also to the slope of the fiat dormer roof.

Another object of this invention relates to discharging precipitation which occurs inside the airl passageway toward the outlet opening. In this respect, this4 application constitutes aco'ntinuation in part of thecopending application No. 326,369. Generally speaking precipitation; which is either liquid in form or ice, occurs along the walls of the air passagewayin these louvers.

It is of course desirable to have water drain to` points outside the louver onto the roof even though the precipitation occurs on the inside air passageway of the louver. employment of a drain which will slope' toward' the outlet opening. The second Object 'of this invention is therefore to provide a draining surfacewithin a louver which will slope toward the outlet opening provided a workman observes simple instructions in mounting the louver.

The feature of applicants invention which attains this object is the provision of a top` wallon the interior baille which is disposedy parallelfto When This involves thev the plane of the flat dormer roof. This top wall on the baille terminates at a point'distant from the top of the outlet opening by approximately the height of the outlet opening. If a Workman places applicants louver on a roof so that the dormer roof slopes downwardly, the interior top of the baille member will likewise slope downwardly and any precipitation on the top of the baffle member will run off in liquid form over the drip edge of Athe baille and out through the outlet opening. Y

In conjunctionwith this object, applicant has characterized by having a baille, the dripping the incidental purpose of providing yan auxiliary drain trough to be used `in conjunction with the flat top of the baille member for catching precipitation deposited on those walls of the'air. passageway which are interior to and not above the top of the baille. This trough drainboard em.-

ployed by applicant may be removable or may be.

permanently assembled with the louver. These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are` obtained in the embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawing wherein: l

yFigurel is a- 'diagrammatic view of alouver for use on' a one-quarter pitch roof;

edge of which, that is the bottom ofthe flange 24, isl vcloser to the peripheral'flange -IU than is the top ofthe outlet opening 26 but which is on `the far side (with respect to the peripheral flange) v of a plane passed through the top 26 of the "Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view of a louver for n use on a one-fifth pitch roof;

Figure 3 is a side View in section of a louver-toA bezused on a one-quarter pitch roof; and

Figure .4 is a'perspective view of "an auxiliary drain trough. y

-Continuing to refer to the drawing, Figure 1 illustrates the means by which the first object 0f this invention has been obtained. In this figure, the numeral Hlindicates a peripheral flange, l2, a vdormer' roof andl I4 an outlet opening. The numeral I6 is an interior drainboard while i8 indicates the upwardly ydirectedwall of a baille generally indicated by the numeral 20 whichhas a forwardly directed topv Wall 22 and a depending flange-24, the lower edge of thel ilange 24 constituting a drip edge.

vBecause applicants air passageway is substanit must be carried over the baffle 20 and drainboard-l6, applicant, using the top 26 of the outlet opening I4y as a center, swings `an arc 28. In previous designs, he then selected some point such as 30 which is more distantfrom the peripheral-flange I0 than is the ,top 26 of the outlet openingM, and using this point 30 as a Center with the same radius swung an arc .such as 32. Having the aro 32, he then extended a roof as a tangent to the arc 32 making whatever angle with the peripheral flange that he desired. If 'the applicant desired an angle of 25 degrees, which is slightly less than the 26.6 degree angularity of a one-quarter pitch slant 'roof to the horizontal, applicant would therefore have obtained a slant roof for the dormer such as 34.'V The smaller the anglebetween the dormer roof and the'peripheral flange, fthe greater the length the dormer had to be. f i

VBy this new invention, applicant rst passes` a line through the point 26 to make the same angle with-the peripheral flange as he wishes thedormer roof to `make with the peripheral flange. This line is indicated by the numeral 36 and the angle by the letter a, which in Figure l is 25 'degrees. Where the line 36 intersects the are 28, the applicant commences the flange 24 :and at a suitable point above the line 36 carries back the baille top 22 parallel to the line 36. Thus applicant has passed a plane through the top of the outlet opening and intersecting vthe peripheral flange I0 at a selected angle.

In Figure 2 the same principles have been followed and vit will be observed that the more acute the angle between the dormer roof and the peripheral flange, the more nearly will the driping edge l42 of thewbaille approach a point asfar from the peripheral flange as the top of the outlet opening. f ,l

Referring now to Figure 3, .a physical embodiment of applicants inventionis there shown.A A peripheral flange generally identied by the nueral 44 has a rectangular opening 46 therein. The numeral 48 identifies a drainboard lying substantially in the planeiof the lperipheral rflange 44 while the numerals 50 and152 indicate the end and t'opfwalls of abaflle member 53 having a llanged draining edge 54. Over the opening 46, thel'drainboard 48 and ythe balez53 is positioned a dormer generally identified by the numeral 56 and consisting of a roof 58,\a Visor 59, a front wall 60 and an outlet opening 62 covered by a screen, and side walls such as 64. The actual construction is identicaly to that shown inthe copending application heretofore mentioned v.and need not b'e discussed otherthan to say that the baille 53y is held -in assembled Arelationship by flanges 66 appropriately fastened Ito the side walls 64. l

Thev physical embodiment shown in Figure 3 was designed specificallyfor use on a one-quarter pitch roof. The angle b is a 25 .degree angle and it is therefore apparentY that if the louver were mounted on a slant roof havinga slightly more gentle slope, the dormer .roof 58 would slope back toward the roof andnot outwardly anddownwardly. Moreover, in this embodiment only the draining edge 54 of the flange is closer let opening 62. is disposed at a vdistance from-,the peripheral flange about equal to ,ther distance of the top of the loutlet opening from the 'peripheral flange. Applicant yhas employed his principles governing the positioning of the `drip edge ofy the baille only to a limited extent inthisembodiment for the reason that the more that the top wall lof` the baille vis dropped toward lthe peripheral vflange, the'smaller is theair'pocket or deep yrecess '68 formed by the baille. This deep recess is largely responsible for `clearing the. air of water in a driving rain. through the'top 'of the outlet opening soas to make an'angler with the lperipheral flange identical to the angle. b. It isapparent that the dripping edge 5 4 or the Atop of the baille itself, if a ydripping edge is omitted, maybe dropped to the line 'In before the dripping edge 54 willfbe lowerthan the top 'of the air outlet when the louver is mountedon a slant roof. i v

-Referring .now to Figureflpthere is 'shown'a The dotted line Vlll. is passed trough or auxiliary drain board 12 consisting of a loor 14 and side walls 18 and 18. The inner ends of the side walls indicated by the numerals 80 and 82 are at right angles to the length of the side walls while the other ends 88 and 86 are tapered outwardly. Referring to Figure 3, the side walls of the drainboard 12 are of such dimensions that they may be forced in, that is by a squeeze iit, between the top 52 of the baille and the bottom of the dormer roof 58. The entire air passageway which follows the dotted line 88 in side the louver itself has suspended beneath it a drainboard of some kind which will cause water to run forwardly over the dripping edge 54 down over the drainboard 48 and thence out the outlet opening 62. This is an important feature of applicants invention because in winter time this precipitation forms as ice and in considerable volume.

Attention is invited to the fact that the top 52 of the baille member is parallel to the dormer roof 58 and it follows that any workman by placing the dormer roof on a roof so that it will slope downwardly will automatically place the louver so that al1 draining precipitation in the air passageway will iiow out the outlet 62.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A slant roof louver comprising a peripheral flat member disposed substantially in a single plane, an opening constituting an air inlet therein, a baille wall having a drip edge disposed adjacently one end of said air inlet, over said air inlet and baille a dormer comprising side1 top and front walls', and an air outlet disposed in the lower portion of the dormer front wall, the drip edge of said baille being less distant from the plane of the peripheral flat member than is the 2. A slant roof louver comprising a peripheral flat member disposed substantially in a single plane, an opening constituting an air inlet therein, a baille wall having a drip edge disposed adjacently one end of said air inlet, over said air inlet and baille a dormer comprising side, top and front walls, and an air outlet disposed in the lower portion of the dormer front wall, the drip edge of said baille being less distant from the peripheral flat member than is the top of the outlet therefrom and being disposed approximately in the plane which passes through the top of the outlet opening and intersects the peripheral flat member at an angle of approximately 25 to 28 degrees, said walls of the dormer and the baille being so related as to provide an air passageway through the louver of substantially constant cross sectional conguration and of the same configuration and dimensions as the outlet openmg.

3. In combination with a slant roof louver comprising a flat member having an air inlet vopening therein with a dormer having a at roof over said opening and an air outlet in a front wall of said dormer and having a combination drainboard and baille member disposed within the dormer in draining relationship to said outlet and having a top wall lying in a plane substantially parallel to the dormer roof to define an air passageway from the air inlet to the air outlet having a constant c ross sectional configuration similar to that of the outlet opening, a drainboard trough having a flat bottom portion and means capable of holding said trough in assembled relationship to the air passageway between the top wall of the baille member and the dormer roof, said trough having a length sufficient to extend inwardly beyond the dormer roof whereby to catch all precipitation within said portion of the air passageway and cause the same to be' delivered forwardly over the baille and thence on to the drainboard,

FREELAND H. LESLIE. 

